Bixi Toronto is (almost) Ready to Launch

It’s something that we at BikingToronto have known for a while, that in addition to having 1000+ subscribers, Bixi Toronto is just putting the finishing touches on securing $600,000 in corporate sponsorships for the first 3 years of the program:

BIXI Toronto has met its key targets, though a two week extension to today’s sponsorship deadline means that an official announcement has yet to be made. After the bike-sharing program reached 1000 members on October 18, the remaining hurdle for approval from the City of Toronto was the need to secure $600,000 in sponsorship funds (over each of the next three years) by November 30.

They have — mostly. Daniel Egan, City of Toronto manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, told me over the phone that “BIXI has essentially met all the milestones, but the sponsorship deadline was extended by a couple of weeks to finalize some of the details.” That’s why there hasn’t been a formal announcement — the program isn’t actually officially a go until this happens. But, regardless of this slight extension, Egan confirmed that the May 2011 “launch date remains the same.” [BlogTO]

BikingTorontopublicized the heck out of Bixi back in the days before it reached 1000 subscribers (it’s our duty as Toronto’s Bicycle Blog and Info Resource – Bixi is going to transform downtown Toronto!) and since then knew that the corporate sponsorship money was lined up… but it was just waiting on some final touches (as Dan Egan expressed above to BlogTO).

Good to see lots on General Interest sites like BlogTO are taking an active interest too!